Craft Beer has overtaken the beer market and continues to enjoy record growth. With this growth comes a need for brewers to increase automation on their line in order to keep up with demands while upholding the integrity of their products and ingredients. Pair that with labor shortages, and the opportunities to add equipment can become overwhelming.
So where can you make major impact with minimal capital investment?
Container handling automation.
One of the most crucial aspects to any production line is having and maintaining proper container handling procedures. By automating your container handling process you can benefit in many ways such as:
- Reducing Downtime
- Increasing Throughput
- Reducing Manual labor
- Reducing Jams
- Improving Safety
- and more!
Below are a few product considerations to make that can help you increase efficiency on your craft brew production line.
1. Twist Blocks
Whether you are inverting your cans for code dating or the rinsing process, manually inverting each
container can be a hold up in your production. Twist blocks are a great solution to alleviate this process. Not only are these solutions a cost-effective addition to your line, but they also have a smaller footprint, allowing you to dedicate that extra real estate to larger machines and applications where it is needed most.
And if you need to run more than one can size on your line, you can easily changeover as twist blocks have simple mounting procedures allowing changeovers to be made in seconds.
Twist blocks are a low-cost entry point to bring automation onto your conveyor as they require no additional power and use the geometry of the block and container to invert them.
2. Timing Screws
Consider timing screws to be the heartbeat of your production line, making sure all containers are properly
flowing and feeding into downstream applications. While split second accuracy is critical when it comes to container handling, this makes timing screws one of the most important elements on any packaging line. From feeding, turning, grouping, twisting, inverting, combining, transferring, dividing, to orienting, and more the possibilities are endless.
If you have larger capital equipment on your line, they likely include timing screws to feed the systems or positively control the container. It’s important to make sure these are replaced as they are a wear item on your line.
Older screws can produce scuffing on the container or impact label integrity. Morrison screws have a special finish in order to protect the integrity of your brand.
3. Timing Screw Drive Units
Need to manipulate your cans or bottles prior to an application downstream? For example, maybe you need
to meter out your 12 oz sleek cans for the proper spacing required for the filling process, this can be made possible with the help of timing screw drive units. Screw driven, this solution helps maximize efficiency and productivity on your production line by automating the otherwise mundane tasks on your line. This allows your workforce to be utilized where they are needed most on your line.
Timing Screw Drive units help meter, turn, group, or feed containers ahead of other equipment all while effortlessly retrofitting into your existing lines. They can also index containers underneath applications such as filling to ensure proper placement under fill heads, minimize wasted product.
Bonus Tip: Automating your line does not have to mean replacing with all new equipment. Morrison's timing screw drive units can be retrofitted into your exiting lines to compliment your other machinery and make it more efficient rather than replacing higher dollar amount equipment.
4. Combining + Dividing Solutions
Are your combining and dividing procedures slowing down your craft brew line and causing you stress.Manually combining and dividing is just not the most efficient process. Fortunately, machines can handle these tasks quicker and more accurately than humans, leading to higher throughput and less jams or errors. Not to mention the increased safety factors, workers who operate these processes tend to have their hands very close to the machines, which can always be a risk of injury.
Combining and dividing systems are great solutions when you want to increase production of one area of your line. For example, maybe you can run your filler at 800 cans per minute but your downstream equipment can only operate at 400. To bump up your filler, it may be more cost effective to add another 400 container per minute machine. This means you need to divide your containers out of your filler into two lanes. Adding a divider can make this possible.
Looking for more solutions to improve throughput on your craft brew line? Click here!
Visit us in Booth 707 at the Craft Brewers Conference to discuss these solutions and more!
